Gingrich joins call for offshore oil drilling

By Bob Keefe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON —- Newt Gingrich on Tuesday joined congressional Republicans in taking the Obama administration to task for not doing more to promote offshore oil drilling.

On the one-year anniversary of the lifting of a presidential ban on offshore oil exploration, Gingrich said the White House is hurting the economy by not pushing aggressively for drilling.

"Returning energy production to the United States means American jobs, keeping American money at home," Gingrich, the former House speaker and potential presidential candidate in 2012, said at a news conference outside the Capitol. "It's important to our national security, and it's important for our economy."

On July 14, 2008, President George W. Bush announced he was lifting the ban on offshore oil exploration first imposed by his father in 1990.

Gingrich said Obama has done nothing to foster offshore oil development, in part because gas prices have fallen and because Democrats in Congress are focused on renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

A study released by the pro-drilling American Energy Alliance at Gingrich's newter continental shelf contains about 86 billion barrels of recoverable oil, including 410 million barrels off the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. Opening up the oceans to more exploration could ultimately add more than $8 trillion to the economy, the group claims.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced in February he was developing a five-year plan for expanding exploration of oil, natural gas and other energy sources on the outer continental shelf. The Interior Department is soliciting public comment on a draft of the plan through Sept. 21.

But Gingrich accused the Interior Department and the White House of stonewalling. "I think it's clear this administration is using every possible excuse not to let Americans get access to their own energy," he said.

Flanked by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee, and other House Republicans, Gingrich said he was in Washington Tuesday to talk energy, not politics.

But that didn't keep some from asking him about his political plans.

Asked by a reporter whether he would run for president in 2012, Gingrich replied simply, "I have no idea."